QUITO -- Police found the body of Colombian journalist Maria Eugenia Guerrero on the outskirts of the northern Ecuadorian city of Tulcan, near the nations' border, a local television said.

The woman, who was working for the Integracion Estereo station in the southern Colombian city of Ipiales, was brutally assaulted and killed and her body was left in a remote area outside Tulcan, Ecuador's Ecuavisa television reported Friday.

Guerrero, who hosted the program "Frontera Abierta" (Open Border), was last seen in Tulcan on Monday when she was leaving her relatives' home en route to Ipiales.

The body, according to the forensics report, showed signs of sexual assault and it is presumed the journalist was killed in a violent manner because a portion of her skull was not found and had presumably been detached as a result of a severe blow.

Omar Muņoz, a member of the Judicial Police in Tulcan, told Ecuavisa that investigators were able to identify the body through fingerprint analysis and because of a cellular phone discovered nearby.

He added that the crime is being investigated by police in Ecuador and Colombia.

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